Wiring systems using flat cable fall into two major categories. One category includes those devices designed for use in carrying data signals and the like. The cables, connectors, and related devices in this category are designed to deal with relatively large numbers of wires of rather small size to handle information signals and associated low-level power, usually in the order of a few volts with currents generally much less than one ampere.
The other category, to which the present invention relates, involves supplying power to outlets, switches, lighting fixtures and other forms of load devices for operating home and business appliances. The overall objective of the systems in this category is to devise a practical, safe and reliable way of delivering power line voltage and current (i.e., 120 volts, 240 volts or higher at currents of up to about 30 amperes) from one location in a room to another location without the need for structural modifications of the walls or floor and without being limited to locations where subfloor wiring channels were positioned when the structure was initially built. In theory, under-carpet cable could permit great flexibility in room arrangements, particularly office arrangements, by allowing outlets to be installed at nearly any locations in the room.
Some such systems have been proposed and examples of prior systems are found in the following patents.
______________________________________ 3,524,921 Wolf 4,258,974 Kuo et al 3,763,307 Wolf 4,289,370 Storck 4,219,928 Kuo 4,315,662 Greenwood et al 4,240,687 Bunnell et al 4,371,225 Narozny 4,240,688 Sotolongo 4,387,949 Haitmanek 4,249,303 Weinmann et al Re. 31,336 Weinmann et al ______________________________________
Previous systems have been found to have several shortcomings including the difficulty of interconnecting the conductors, requiring preparation of the cable by, for example, forming holes therein in a particular pattern using a template or a special tool. This not only requires special, rather complex equipment but also raises the problem of subsequent alignment with those holes.